The way you are
by mycookiegirl
Summary: Ponyboy has had a few tough weeks at school; the socs have been bullying him and he's been hiding it from his brothers. What will happen when Ponyboy gets into trouble at school because of the socs? Will Darry be mad? Pre-book and One-Shot.


**The way you are**

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :) **

Ponyboy Curtis ran down the block as fast as he could, but there was no point; the socs were in their mustang which was way faster than Ponyboy.

The socs surrounded Ponyboy and started beating into him as the young greaser cried for help, but to no avail; Soda, Steve and Darry were all at work, Johnny and Two-Bit were both at their own houses and Dally was at Buck's.

The socs had been harassing Ponyboy for two weeks now, and recently they had scheduled beatings for him after school.

Luckily, Sodapop and Darry didn't arrive home until three hours after Ponyboy did, so he had plenty of time to clean his wounds and cover his bruises. Ponyboy didn't need his brothers worrying about him, and he knew that if they found out about this they would sure worry, so he tried to hide it from them as much as possible.

Ponyboy's cover was almost blown when he was taking his shirt off in his bedroom. Soda was lying back in the bed, and when Ponyboy had removed his shirt, a big scar ran across his belly button.

"What happened, Ponyboy?!" Soda yelled, and Ponyboy quickly closed the bedroom door so Darry didn't hear.

"It's nothing, Soda, honest." Ponyboy tried, but Sodapop got up and walked over to his little brother.

Soda traced the scar with his finger, and then looked Ponyboy in the eyes.

"What happened, Ponyboy?" Soda asked, much gentler this time.

Ponyboy was completely trapped now; he couldn't just run out; Soda would know that something was definitely wrong and tell Darry. He didn't need his brothers worrying about him.

"Me and Curly were playing chicken. He gave me his switchblade and told me to cut my stomach, and then he did the same." Pony said desperately.

Soda frowned, not believing what his brother had said. Why didn't he just tell him in the first place that it was just him and stupid Curly having another game of chicken?

"I guess I'll have to tell Darry to have a few words with Curly then." Sodapop declared, and Pony paled.

"No, please don't get Darry involved!" Ponyboy whispered.

"Then I'll talk to Curly myself." Soda said firmly, and led Ponyboy over to their bed.

Ponyboy felt sick; Curly would sure be confused and angry with him.

"Please Soda, it was my choice; I wanted to play chicken with him. I could have said no, but I didn't." Ponyboy pleaded as Soda closed his eyes.

Soda turned over to face his little brother, whose eyes were filled with desperation.

Soda sighed; he didn't want his little brother upset because of him.

"Alright Pony, I won't say anything to Curly or Darry. But if you do anything stupid like that again, I'm definitely telling Darry, okay?" Sodapop said, and Ponyboy breathed out in relief.

Soda pulled Pony closer to him, and quickly fell asleep, but Pony didn't sleep the whole night; he was too busy worrying about the next day.

XXX

"Darry, I don't feel well." Ponyboy claimed as Darry set out his breakfast for him.

Darry groaned; Ponyboy had been saying the same thing for the past three days.

"Pony, I've already told you this: you need to go to school. If you were sick, I'd let you stay off, but you're not, so quit complaining!" Darry ordered, and Ponyboy sunk down in his seat.

Sodapop sat opposite Pony at the table and frowned at his little brother; Pony really didn't look very well – his face was pale and his eyes were slightly glassy.

"You okay, Pony?" Soda asked his brother, but before Ponyboy could open his mouth, Darry spoke for him.

"He's fine! Now, both of you hurry up or you're gonna be late!" Darry snapped.

Not another word was spoken in the kitchen. Sodapop ate his breakfast, but Ponyboy pushed his plate away and stormed out of the house.

He couldn't be bothered waiting for Two-Bit, so instead he started running to the school. Some socs were outside waiting for him, and all of them harshly pushed the boy round in their circle before finally letting him go.

However, one of the socs grabbed the boy by his backpack and emptied his items out onto the floor.

Ponyboy scrambled to try and pick his belongings up, but was fiercely shoved out of the way.

"Hmm, _Great Expectations_? You actually read crap like this?" one asked, ripping pages out of the book.

"That's not mine! Please, give it back!" Pony begged, but the soc had already tore most of the pages out of the book.

"Gladly." The blond soc chuckled, kicking the torn out pages across the ground and chucking what was left of the book at Ponyboy.

Ponyboy sighed, but then one of the soc's picked up his English assignment that had taken him almost three weeks to write.

"No…please don't rip that." Ponyboy pleaded.

The red haired soc just laughed and smirked at Ponyboy.

"Sorry, what was that?" the soc asked, tearing the top of one of the pages.

"Please don't rip my English book; I really need it; my essay's in there!" Ponyboy cried, trying to retrieve his book, but the soc held it above his head.

"Not so fast, grease!" the soc spat, and whacked Ponyboy on the head with the book.

Ponyboy stumbled backwards and the soc tore Ponyboy's entire English book apart.

"No!" Ponyboy screamed, but was pushed over. The socs started kicking him as they circled around their victim.

When the socs left, Ponyboy had purple and blue bruises littering his stomach. Before school the socs always beat Ponyboy where the bruises wouldn't show; so the teachers wouldn't suspect anything when Ponyboy walked into class.

It wasn't as if the teachers cared though; they could care less if a greaser was getting beat up. Well, except for two teachers: Mr Syme and Ms Bennett. Mr Syme taught English for the highest achieving students, however he was away on a business vacation for six months and would not be returning for another two.

Ms Bennett was the Home Economics teacher, so Ponyboy never saw her unless she was in the cafeteria eating lunch or surveying the hallways during recess. She was very nice to Ponyboy, and was fond at his attitude to learning.

"Why are you late, Ponyboy?" Mr Howden bellowed as Ponyboy walked into home room ten minutes late.

"Sorry, Mr Howden, I had some trouble on the way to school." Ponyboy mumbled, sitting beside Curly Shepard who chuckled.

"Quiet, Shepard. I'm sorry, Ponyboy, but this is the third time in a week you've been late; I'm going to need to make a phone call home." Mr Howden sighed, and Ponyboy felt like crying.

Curly laughed again when Mr Howden pulled out the red book from his desk; the folder had students' attendance and punctuality records in it, and students were usually in trouble if their name was submitted into the red book.

"Dar's gonna kill me." Ponyboy muttered, putting his face in his hands.

Curly looked at the other greaser sitting beside him. Ponyboy was a good kid, why did Darry need to yell all the time? The kid needed some freedom.

"Don't worry, Curtis. I'm sure your brother won't be too mad. I mean, I was put in the reformatory _twice _last year and Tim wasn't bothered." Curly tried to reassure Ponyboy.

Ponyboy snapped his head up in anger.

"Yeah? Well Tim's not Darry is he? And he never will be." Ponyboy stated, looking at Curly.

Curly had taken Ponyboy's response as an insult and thought that he was mocking Tim, when in actual fact he was complaining about Darry.

"Well sorry if we're not up to your standards, Ponyboy!" Curly spat, and stood up and stormed out of the classroom.

Everybody looked up, and some of the socs who had been picking on Ponyboy earlier that morning started laughing.

"Oh dear…" Mr Howden mumbled.

The teacher slammed the red book shut, making everybody in the classroom jump.

"Everybody, you're dismissed early." Mr Howden said to everybody in the class.

All of the students gathered their belongings and left the classroom to go to their next period. A few people, however, were waiting outside to have a little chat with Ponyboy.

"Hey, so even your greasy friends hate you now?" one asked, stretching his hand out to touch Ponyboy's greased hair.

Ponyboy ducked out of the soc's reach and quickly ambled to his next class, which unfortunately for Ponyboy was English.

"Ah, glad you could join us, Ponyboy." Mrs Rogers thundered as Ponyboy tiptoed into the classroom.

Mrs Rogers was filling in for Mr Syme while he was away, but she wasn't nearly as kind and reasonable as Mr Syme was.

"Everybody, please take out your essays which I set you two months ago. No excuses; you've all had plenty of time to do them." Mrs Rogers stated firmly, pulling out a piece of paper which had all of the students' names on. If the student had done their assignment, they would get a tick next to their name, but if they hadn't then they would get a big 'x' next to their name.

Ponyboy looked up at Mrs Rogers with pure hatred. She was very big, gigantic in fact, and had a disgusting alien head to go with her body. Ponyboy wasn't even sure if she had a neck. And her hair didn't suit her at all; it was the same length as his, and was completely gray, though her face made her seem like she was younger than sixty.

"Where is your essay, Mr Curtis?" the woman asked, holding out her hand.

"Uh…I left it at home." Ponyboy tried, but Mrs Rogers laughed, and a few snickers were heard from around the room.

A soc girl with short glossy raven hair and dark skin looked at Ponyboy sympathetically; she knew what the boys in the gang she was in were doing to the poor boy.

"Let me get this straight: after I repeatedly remind you about your essay every English class you're in, you always tell me you've done it and it will be handed in on time…yet now you mysteriously don't have it?! What, did you think you just wouldn't do it and make me think that you had? I knew this was coming. Trust me; I know what your kind are like." Mrs Rogers exclaimed, and that made Ponyboy's blood boil up with anger.

"What do you mean _our _kind? Take a look at your own kind before you judge ours, you fat hypocrite!" Ponyboy shouted, and everybody in the room gasped.

Mrs Rogers' face turned red, and she glared at Ponyboy with hatred.

"Principal's office…now!" she screamed, and Ponyboy stood up quickly before she could yell anymore.

Ponyboy gave in his name to the school secretary, who sighed before walking into the principal's office.

Ponyboy sat down next to Steve, who had been sent to the principal's office for chucking pieces of paper around the classroom when he was told to stop.

"Damn, never thought I'd see you here." Steve smiled as Ponyboy made himself comfortable on the hard wooden bench.

"Wasn't my fault; Mrs Rogers is an idiot." Ponyboy muttered, and Steve chuckled.

"So, what do ya think Darry's gonna do to ya when he finds out about this?" Steve asked, and Ponyboy sighed.

"Prolly ground me for life, or maybe skin me since it's my third time being late this week." Ponyboy grumbled, and Steve smirked.

"Ah, don't worry bout it. My dad's sure to skin me for this one. It's not so bad." Steve laughed lightly, making Pony smile slightly.

The principal's door opened, and the secretary stepped outside as Mr Ryans, the principal, marched behind her.

"Mr Randle, I'll see you now." Mr Ryans demanded, and Steve got up.

"Catch ya later, kid." Steve said before following Mr Ryans into his office.

Ponyboy waited, nervously tapping his foot until one of the socs who had beaten him up before school that day was sauntering down the hallway with Ms Bennett walking behind him.

"Cutting class is not funny, Eddie. It'll just land you in trouble, as you can see." The young teacher told the soc, and motioned for him to sit down.

Ponyboy glared at the soc; it was the red haired one that had torn his English assignment apart. Ponyboy wouldn't have even been sitting outside of the principal's office if it hadn't been for the stupid soc.

"Uh, why do I have to wait with a greaser?" the soc asked the air.

Ponyboy frowned and started reading the words that had been painted on the wall: _Just because we are different does not mean we cannot learn together_.

"Well that's a lie in itself." Ponyboy muttered.

"Ponyboy! What are you doing here?" Ms Bennett asked when she noticed Ponyboy sitting on the bench outside of the principal's office.

"Mrs Rogers sent me here." Ponyboy mumbled.

"Oh dear! Well, I hope you don't get in too much trouble for whatever you did." Ms Bennett smiled, and strolled off to the home economics classroom.

Ponyboy hid his smile as he watched Ms Bennett saunter off back to her classroom. She was very beautiful to Ponyboy. She reminded him of Vivien Leigh from his favorite movie _Gone with the wind_, except Ms Bennett's hair was a slightly lighter color and her eyes were a dark brown color.

"Ooh, is something going on with you and the slutty economic teacher, Ponykid?" Eddie mocked, sticking his tongue out and licking his lips with wide eyes.

Ponyboy scowled in disgust and turned away from the soc.

"Your mom probably told her how to act so slutty; I remember before you even skipped a grade your mom and her were talkin' like there was no tomorrow. They were probably sharing their dirty secrets." Eddie taunted, and Ponyboy bit his tongue to stop himself from shouting his opinions at the soc.

"No wait, your mom couldn't have taught Ms Slut how to act so slutty; your mom was such a prude it was untrue." Eddie laughed, and that was the last straw.

Ponyboy jumped up and threw himself on the soc, then began punching him in his face.

Eddie struggled to get away as Ponyboy continued to punch him repeatedly in his nose. When the soc managed to get Pony off him, Ponyboy jumped up and kneed Eddie right in his crotch.

The teenager screamed, making Steve, Mr Ryans and the secretary emerge from the principal's office.

Steve managed to pry Ponyboy off of Eddie, who had already hid behind Mr Ryans and was clutching the middle-aged man's arm.

"Get off me, boy! Mr Curtis, restrain yourself!" Mr Ryans shouted.

Eddie let go of the principal's arm, but Ponyboy was still struggling in Steve's arms.

"Come on, Pony, calm down." Steve soothed, and that was the first time Ponyboy had ever heard Steve speak so gently to him.

Ponyboy eventually calmed down, but he was still livid, and Steve wouldn't let go of him.

"I'm sorry, Ponyboy, but after every stunt that you've pulled today, I have no choice but to send you home." Mr Ryans declared, and Ponyboy felt sick.

Ponyboy getting sent home early would mean that Darry would have to get off work early, which would mean that Darry would not earn the money that they needed, and he would also be very angry with Pony no doubt.

Steve felt Ponyboy tense in his arms and felt sorry for the younger greaser; he knew what it was like when Darry was very mad from his own personal experiences. He just hoped that Darry would go easy on his little brother with whatever punishment he was giving him.

Ponyboy sat down in the office while Eddie was taken to the infirmary.

"Good luck, kid. Tell me how it went, tomorrow if you're not suspended." Steve mumbled, and left to go back to his lesson.

It was a good twenty minutes before Darry came to collect Ponyboy from the school. The house that Darry was working on was far away, so Ponyboy could only imagine how annoyed Darry felt when he got told that he had to drive to the school to pick up Ponyboy, and then back to the house with nothing else to do all day except stay with his brother. They had some stupid rule in the job where, if you leave for something important or urgent, you're not allowed to come back until the next day.

Darry didn't even acknowledge Ponyboy when he strolled past him and met with Pony's principal, who was waiting for him outside the office.

"Welcome, Mr Curtis. Please come in and have a seat." Mr Ryans said, and he and Darry walked into the office.

It was ten minutes before Darry left the office. He motioned for Ponyboy to get up and follow him, so Pony stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets before walking out with his brother.

The two brothers climbed into Darry's truck. Darry made sure that Ponyboy was buckled in before backing out of the school parking lot and driving home.

Not a word was spoken through the whole car journey; Ponyboy didn't want to anger Darry any further and Darry didn't want to yell anything that he didn't mean.

When Darry and Ponyboy were both inside the house, Ponyboy immediately sat down on the sofa; knowing that Darry would want to talk to him.

Darry stood in front of the younger greaser and started pacing in front of him.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You've been late three times this week, you insulted your English teacher and then you pick a fight in the school office? What the hell is wrong with you, Ponyboy?!" Darry yelled, making Pony flinch.

"It was the socs fault; they…" Ponyboy started, but Darry stopped him.

"Don't try and blame the socs. What could they have anything to do with you being late or insulting your English teacher? Oh, and I heard that you didn't do your assignment for her class. What the hell, Ponyboy?" Darry hollered, and Ponyboy stood up.

"They beat me up before school! Look at what they did!" Ponyboy cried, lifting up his shirt and showing Darry his fresh bruises, as well as the scar that ran across his belly button. "Soda saw the scar and wanted to tell you, but I wouldn't let him. I told him that me and Curly were playing chicken, because I didn't want you both worrying about me!"

Darry observed the scars on Ponyboy's stomach and felt awful; the socs really had done this to him.

Ponyboy then picked up his backpack and emptied everything out of it; including his ruined copy of _Great Expectations _and the papers that had been torn from his English book that he had gathered when the socs had left him.

"Well, why didn't you tell us?! You know that I don't care about anything as long as you're safe!" Darry shouted, not wanting to lose this argument.

Ponyboy broke down into tears and collapsed on the floor.

"I tried to tell you the other day! But you know what? You just pushed me away like you always do! You just ignore me!" Ponyboy sobbed, and Darry felt truly horrible when he remembered that Ponyboy had come to him the other night with something bothering him.

XXX

**Three days ago**

_Darry was on the phone in the kitchen to some woman whose house he was currently working on. She was single, and beautiful._

"_Darry?" Ponyboy croaked, coming into the room._

"_Uh, one sec, my little brother wants me." Darry giggled into the receiver, however when he spun around to face Ponyboy he was a lot more blunt._

"_What?" he groaned. _

"_I need to talk with you." Ponyboy whispered, but Darry frowned at him._

"_Quit bothering me, Ponyboy. I need some alone time." Darry demanded, and turned back around on his chair. "Don't you have any homework to do? Go watch TV or something." Darry sighed, and held the phone to his ear again._

"_Darry…it's important." Ponyboy whimpered, but Darry was annoyed._

"_Get out, Ponyboy! Now!" he yelled, and Ponyboy gasped before escaping out of the kitchen door._

"_So…where we?" Darry asked as the woman on the opposite end of the line giggled._

XXX

"I'm sorry, Ponyboy. I just-" Darry tried to explain himself, but Ponyboy got up and wiped his eyes.

"You know what, Darry? Just leave it; I don't care anymore, I really don't." Ponyboy sighed, and gave his oldest brother a watery smile. "Why don't you call that girl up? I'm sure you'd be much happier talking to her." Pony said, and then walked to his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Darry didn't really feel guilty often, or at least he tried not to show it, but Pony's words had really affected him.

"_I'm sure you'd be much happier talking to her_."

Nobody could ever replace the happiness Darry felt when he was with his little brothers. But Ponyboy didn't see it that way; he thought of himself as a burden. And it was Darry who'd made him feel that way.

Darry looked at a picture on the mantelpiece of him and his two brothers before their parent's incident. They actually looked like brothers; they were all smiling at each other with clear love in their eyes. Then he looked at a recent picture that had been taken of them, and they didn't look like brothers at all; Darry looked like a parent with his two sons. Ponyboy wasn't smiling, and although Soda was, there didn't seem to be much love in his eyes that there had been in the other photo. Darry's smile looked forced and he didn't look happy one bit.

However, Darry still loved his brothers with all his heart, and no woman could ever replace that. But Ponyboy did feel replaced, and he had also been getting hurt while Darry was too busy chatting up some easy-going blond.

The oldest Curtis sighed before making his way to his little brother's room. He knocked on the door, but got no response, so Darry just opened the door.

Ponyboy was lying on his and Soda's bed with a picture of their parents in his hands.

"Hey Pony." Darry greeted softly.

Ponyboy didn't look up at his brother when he spoke to him, and instead just clutched the picture of his parents tighter.

"I want mom and dad back." Ponyboy whined, burying his face in his arms.

Darry wanted to cry upon hearing this; he wanted his mom and dad back too; to help him with his struggles and to give him a hug when needed.

"Me too, Pony, me too." Darry sighed, sitting on the edge of Pony's bed.

Ponyboy scooted away, and Darry couldn't blame him.

"I'm sorry, Darry. I'm sorry I never make you proud. I wish I could. I always made mom and dad proud, but I can never make you proud. And I'm sorry." Ponyboy cried, moving his arms out of the way of his eyes.

Darry gulped; Ponyboy didn't think he was proud of him? Yet, he knew that his parents were? Was it Darry that was causing his little brother grief?

"No, no, I'm very proud of you, Pony. I'm sorry I don't show it. I just, I don't know." Darry said sadly.

"I just…don't understand, Darry. I mean, Soda dropped out of school and you only scolded him for not telling you that he was dropping out. And when he got arrested, you just told him to not do it again. Yet, when I get a grade lower than a B+, you ground me until my grades improve. What does Soda have that I don't? I wish I was like Soda, then." Ponyboy stated.

"No, no, you're fine just the way you are, Ponyboy!" Darry exclaimed.

"But we can't all get what we wish for, can we? Just like I can't wish for mom and dad to come back. And I can't wish for you to like me!" Ponyboy shouted, and began crying again.

Darry breathed out heavily, and then pulled Ponyboy into his lap and held him in his arms.

"You're perfect just the way you are." Darry uttered into Ponyboy's auburn hair, and rocked his baby brother back and forth while rubbing his back.

Darry realized that Ponyboy was just a baby, and he needed to stop being so hard on him all the time.

Ponyboy eventually settled into Darry's comforting embrace and began to fall asleep.

"Darry?" Ponyboy mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah?" Darry asked softly.

"What did you think of me when I was born?" Ponyboy questioned as he was already drifting off to sleep.

Darry lightly chuckled at his brother's random question and answered:

"I thought you were perfect."

**Just another one-shot I came up with. I realize that the ending was a little rushed, and I apologize. I know I asked this on my other story, but does anyone have any ideas on a story I could do? I'm running out of ideas and I kinda need help :) **

**Also, today I discovered the game **_**To The Moon **_**and I cried so much! It's such a good game, and I recommend it to people who need an emotion-rush or something. I tend to watch gameplays however, and I haven't played the game, but I still cried!**


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